Conventional process chamber systems used in semiconductor manufacturing are relatively large and stationary and need to be filled with far more reactant or gas than is actually necessary to carry out a particular process step on a wafer substrate. Further, some gas species are caustic while others are toxic, and therefore using minimal amounts of such gas is preferred.
To this end, a microchamber system has been developed as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,997,963. The microchamber system has a relatively small-volume chamber (“microchamber”) that seals a process gas within the microchamber for processing.
While the microchamber system has proven useful for conventional semiconductor processes carried out at room temperature, the same microchamber system cannot be used effectively for high-temperature semiconductor process applications, such as laser annealing of wafers, which require elevating the substrate temperature to activate the annealing process. In particular, the thermal distortion associated with a high substrate temperature will cause the air bearing used in the microchamber system to fail.